Kusina Down Under

Steamed Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce

2008-05-29T14:27:00.001+10:00

Chinese Style Steamed Spareribs in Black Bean Sauce

Ingredients:

1 lb. spareribs

1 tbsp. fermented black beans

1 clove garlic

4 slices fresh ginger root

6 tbsp. soy sauce

5 tbsp. boiled water

1 tsp. cornstarch

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. sesame oil

Dim Sum Dip Sauce

2 tbsp. Soy sauce

1 lemon or 4 calamansi

Lee kum ki chui chan chilli oil

Directions:

1. Cut the spareribs crosswise bite size (or you can have a ready cut from chinese butcher).

2. Rinse fermented black beans slightly in cold faucet water.

3. Combine the rest of the ingredients. Transfer spareribs and sauce into a shallow, heatproof pan that will fit inside your wok (a pie plate or 9” cake pan works great.) Let marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

4. Set steaming rack inside of wok and fill with water almost up to height of rack. Turn heat to high and when water is boiling, turn heat to medium-high. Set pan with spareribs on top of a steaming rack in wok. Steam on med-high heat for 18-20 minutes until ribs are no longer pink. Make sure that when you are steaming that you don't run out of water in the wok. Replenish with additional water, if needed.

Cassava Cake

2008-05-29T13:58:00.008+10:00

Cassava Cake with cheesy topping

Ingredients

Cake

2 lbs grated cassava

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

(Reserve 1/3 cup for Topping)

1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk

1 (13 ounce) can coconut cream

2/3 cup sugar

3 egg (keep the 1 egg yolk for topping)

1 cup grated coconut or much better a macapuno

Topping

1 egg yolk + condensed milk + grated cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 325° f.

In large mixing bowl combine cake ingredients.

Mix well.

Pour equally into two large greased rectangular pans. Or you can have it at cupcake pan as well.

Bake until top is no longer liquid (approximately 30 minutes).

Mix topping ingredients well and spread evenly on the two cakes.

Bake an additional 20 to 30 minutes. Take care not to burn the topping just have it light brown.

Cool cakes completely.

Slice each cake into 24 equal squares.

Caldereta

2008-05-05T21:28:00.011+10:00

Pinoy Caldereta

Ingredients

2 lbs beef, cubed (you can use lamb as well)
3-4 cups water
1 medium onion, chopped
1 glove garlic, crushed
1 cup bell pepper, cut into strips
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup tomato paste
2/3 cup liver spread
1 cup grated cheese
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tablespoon Tobasco sauce (optional)
3 large bay leaf
2 medium potato, sliced
2 medium carrot, sliced
1 tbsp. fish sauce (patis)
2 tbsp. soy sauce (toyo)
salt and pepper

Procedure

1. Boil the beef until tender, in the water with salt n pepper to make a nice beef broth.
2. In a separate pan sauté garlic until almost brown then add onions. Add the carrots and potato, saute.
3. Add beef and small amount of broth. Add soy sauce and fish sauce.
4. Add tomato paste and tomato sauce and allow to simmer for 10 mins.
5. Add the bay leaves and bell pepper.
6. Add the liver spread and sugar.simmer until carrots and potato is cooked.
7. Add the cheese and tobasco. Simmer until cheese melt. Stir.
8. Add some more broth if you wish.
8. Serve it on a bed of cooked rice. Enjoy!

Easy Macaroons

2008-05-05T20:41:00.017+10:00

Easy Macaroons

Ingredients

500g desiccated coconut

1-395g tin sweetend condensed milk

2- whole eggs

raisin and nuts for topping (optional)

Procedure:

1.Preheat the oven to 180c/350f
2. Combined eggs with milk and add desiccated coconut. Mix well, it should be firm yet slightly sticky. 3. Spoon teaspoons full mixture onto a baking tray lined with a baking paper. They will spread a little when cooking. or you can use small macaroons paper cups in baking like the one i used in my photo.
4. Place mixture to prepared macaroon cups and bake in 300°F oven for about 15-20 minutes until golden brown. 5.Allow to cool on paper before trying to lift as the bottom and centre is soft until cooled.

Deluxe Ham and Cheese Melt

2008-05-05T14:57:00.004+10:00

Easy to prepare brunch sandwich. Quick, fast and simply yummy. Your kids will love to have this in their snack pack for school and will only takes you 10 mins. to prepare.

Ingredients

8 slices of cooked ham
2 eggs, slightly beaten
4 slices of tasty cheedar cheese
2-tbsp. mayo
2 -tbsp. soften garlic butter
1 medium size french bread

Procedure

1. Cook the eggs in a non stick pan, like an omelet. Fold to fit the size of bread.
2. Slice the french bread to half and spread lightly butter on both sides.
3. Layer the cheese-mayo-ham-egg-ham-mayo-cheese. and toast it open to a toaster oven. until topmost cheese melts.
4. While hot close it and slice. Great serve with fries or salad on side. Enjoy!

Crumbed Calamari

2008-05-05T14:19:00.010+10:00

Deep Fried Crumbed Calamari

Ingredients
1 lb cleaned calamari, cut into rings
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 large egg, slightly beaten
2 tbsp. evaporated or fresh milk
1 cup breadcrumbs
oil (for frying)
1 tsp. salt and pepper to taste1 tsp. garlic powder

Procedure

First, coat the calamari rings in corn meal, shaking them out to get rid of any excess.

Then dip them into a mixture of the eggs and milk.

Lastly, dip them into the bread crumbs mixed with garlic powder, salt and pepper, coating them well, and shaking off any excess.

Up to this point may be done in advance, and the calamari rings refrigerated for a couple of hours, until you are ready to fry.

Meanwhile, heat the oil (the secret to crispy calamari is hot, hot oil, just below the smoking point.) Fry the rings (in batches) about 1 minute, or until they are golden.

Remove and drain on paper towels.

If you have a deep fryer it's best, but otherwise, make sure the oil is deep enough to cover the calamari.

Serve immediately with lemon wedges, garlic mayo or tartar sauce. Great serve with chips.

Pancit Bam-i

2008-05-04T23:26:00.007+10:00

Cebu's famous pancit, a staple for every handaan in cebu.

INGREDIENTS

500 grams canton noodles
300 grams sotanghon noodles
1/2 cup chicken breast
1/2 lb. lean pork
1/2 lb. shrimps, peeled
4 pieces Chorizo bilbao (or Chinese sausage)
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 medium onion, sliced
1 medium red pepper, sliced
1/2 cup carrots, julienned
1/2 cup snow peas
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1/2 cup tenga ng daga (dried wood ear mushroom), chopped
4 tablespoons soy sauce,
2 tablespoons cane vinegar
4 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup sliced spring onions for garnishing (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Boil the chicken breast in 2 cups of water with a dash of salt, and shred (or slice into 1/2-inch strips). Set aside the broth for use later. Meanwhile, marinate the pork in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and cane vinegar. Let stand for at least 10 minutes, then slice into 1/2-inch strips.

2. Saute the garlic and onions on medium heat in oil. Add the chicken and the pork, and saute for 5 minutes.

3. Add the sliced chorizo and peeled shrimp saute until shrimp turns pink. Add the red peppers and carrots. Saute for another 5 minutes.

4. Add one cup of the chicken broth that you had earlier set aside. Make sure you use enough broth to cover your meat-and-veggies mixture. Add 2 tablespoons s of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar. Mix together, and boil for 10 minutes.

5. While waiting for the broth to boil, soak the sotanghon and cut according to your desired size. In a separate container, soak the mushrooms and then chop coarsely.

6. Once the broth has boiled, add the sotanghon and the mushrooms, and mix thoroughly.

9. After 5 minutes, add the canton noodles, and mix for another 10 - 15 minutes, until the canton noodles are soft. By this time, most of the broth should have dried up (or more precisely, they’ve been absorbed by the noodles). Add a dash or so of soy sauce and ground black pepper to taste.

10. Just right before the noodles is cooked add the snow peas and shredded cabbage. Its much better to add this two last, to preserve its crunchiness upon serving.

10. Garnish with spring onions, and serve with calamansi (Philippine lemon) but here in down under a lemon is a good substitute for the calamansi. Serve while hot, Enjoy!

Welcome to my humble kitchen!

2008-05-04T22:24:00.002+10:00

Welcome to Kusina Down Under. A recipe collections from a humble Filipino kitchen in Australia. My parents are cooking teacher back in 80's. Yes, even my late father is a very good cook. Maybe i got it from them my love for cooking. I like to experiment on the kitchen. As a free lance photographer, i love to take shots of food from restaurants and from my own kitchen as well. I believe cooking is a form of art. You can have it any style you want, as long as the end product will please you.